Marvin Fong, The Plain DealerFormer Cuyahoga County commissioner Jimmy Dimora arrives at federal court in Akron this morning for the closing arguments in his racketeering trial.

AKRON, Ohio – Federal prosecutors began their closing arguments this morning in the Jimmy Dimora federal racketeering trial by painstakingly going over the details of each of the 36 charges with which the former Cuyahoga County commissioner has been charged.

Live trial coverage

Follow Jimmy Dimora's trial live with The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com. We have a team of reporters covering the trial every day, providing live updates and video reports throughout. Find that coverage at cleveland.com/countyincrisis

Background on the trial

Russo pleaded guilty in September 2010 to numerous bribery-related charges and was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison. He was a key witness for the prosecution at Dimora's trial.

Dimora is on trial along with a co-defendant, Michael Gabor, 52, of
Parma, a former office assistant in the auditor's office. Gabor is
accused of bribery and conspiracy, including a charge that he tried to
pay a judge $10,000 to fix his divorce case.

Dimora's two sons and wife are with him in the courtroom. Both he and Gabor took notes this morning as Bacon spoke.

The rest of U.S. District Judge Sara Lioi's courtroom is filled with government
officials and media. The left side has U.S. attorneys and federal
workers, while the right side is mostly media and family of the defendants.

Bacon showed jurors images of a blank pyramid and began to place
pictures to explain the government’s case. At the top of the pyramid
were Dimora and Russo. The second row had pictures of Gabor and
J. Kevin Kelley, who also has pleaded guilty and testified against Dimora.

Bacon did not use notes as she delivered the closing arguments to the jury, instead looking at the charges projected on a screen for jurors to see.

Bacon briefly described the infamous Las Vegas trip enjoyed by Dimora, Russo and others and discussed Kleem’s desire to get a general trades contract at the county Juvenile Justice Center. She reminded the jury that Gabor was also on the trip.

She also discussed cash, dinner and bribes that benefited Dimora.

“Dimora didn’t break into Blaze Construction and steal this stuff, it was given to him,” Bacon said.

Lawyers for Dimora and Gabor will also have a chance to deliver a closing argument to jurors before the jury begins deliberating the case.

The charges against Dimora and Gabor are found in a 36-count, 148-page
federal indictment, alleging that he used his county commissioner's office as the base to run a criminal enterprise. Both have denied the allegations.

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